Hi everyone, just in case you missed my raft of Tweets and Facebook updates — please welcome the newest addition to the Sarah Vain and Tall family! Betty is one classy strapless dress, made of Japanese cotton boned throughout the bodice so she’ll never let you down. She’s instore now at Glamazon and in the online shop.
To celebrate I’m giving away a dress, would you like to win one? Just click on the link and tell me what your dream dress is; if you win you’ll be able to choose any dress from the store.
Just a quick post to say, if you aren’t already a fan of Sprinkle Emporium you should be. Sprinkle isn’t a “tall designer”, but she is a tall designer! Having curves as I do I love her pieces and always manage to bring something home from her shop in Lygon St, Brunswick. She’s also just hands-down one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet.
Sprinkle is a costume designer as well as a fashionista, so her shows are always huge nights out — I’ll definitely be there so let me know if you’re going too, it would be fantastic to bring a tall girl posse and Sprinkle would get a kick out of seating all of us at one table
SUNDAY MAY 22nd
The Comics Lounge, 1/26 Errol St. North Melbourne
doors open 7.30pm
$25 (plus $1.50 booking fee) -these tickets are redeemable in the store for a select period of time on purchases of all new winter garments
Tickets can be purchased online at www.sprinkle.com.au or in store at Sprinkle Emporium (108 Lygon St. Brunswick East). There will be NO DOOR SALES
First, you have to see this video. Thanks Tina for linking in the comments! So nice to watch them having fun with tall girl/short guy dancing — it CAN be done! And doesn’t she look just gorgeous? I WANT that dress.
OK, now that you’ve enjoyed yourself, on with the serious business of voting for a name (see this post if you have no idea what I’m talking about). It was SO hard to choose a top five, but I promised I would and here they are. I tried to take into account the names that were getting support from others in the comments (hence calling it the ‘Sarah’ — no, it wasn’t my idea but of COURSE I love it!!).
Vixen
Tigress
Savannah
Kenya
Sarah
Leave a comment here to vote for a winner. You can ask friends and family to vote, but please, no more than one vote per person. Voting closes Saturday 7th November, Melbourne time. That means Friday for a lot of you international folks, so vote early!
Thank you everyone for racking your brains for this challenge! I am so happy that you like the dress — and that so many creative folks read this blog!
Meet Meredith. Meredith is awesome. She is so awesome that she let me photograph her in the WORST T-SHIRT EVER MADE.
I’m having some problems with the samples, and to be honest it’s got me questioning my whole approach to the business. The problem I face is that practically nobody in industry has experience with the kind of fit I’m after, and I don’t have experience dealing with large operations: everything I make is a one-off garment for one customer. It’s very hard to communicate at times, and every mistake costs $$ and time.
One thing is for sure: these tees are not going to be on sale any time soon. Starting a business is not for wimps!!
No, not an exercise junkie. I’m looking for someone to test our size 10 samples, so that we can make our patterns perfect. You must be at least 5’11″ (preferably taller), able to travel to Brunswick VIC at least once a month for casual paid work, and able to wear a standard Australian size 10.
That is, within a 3cm tolerance of:
bust – 90cm
Waist – 70cm
Hip – 95cm
You don’t have to be a glamour model, because this is not ‘that’ kind of modeling. The job would suit a student, a mum, or a part time worker — it’s irregular (especially in the beginning) but well paid and flexible work.
Interested? Know someone who might be interested? Send me an email at shea dot annie at gmail dot com.
**uck — edited to add, after I washed this the bust point was riding closer to my armpit. Damn me and my wishful thinking! When will I learn that I can’t wear normal clothes?? Oh well, I’ll leave this here for those of you who aren’t 6′ tall.
CUBEC is a hole-in-the-wall Melbourne company selling pretty much only suits and things to wear with suits.
I have absolutely zero interest in owning a suit of any kind, but I did splurge on this pretty emerald shirt. Why? CUBEC has the best attitude ever. They make alterations in house for almost every customer, so they cut their shirts long. The only alteration I needed for an off-the-rack (!!) shirt was this dandy cuff change, and they did it free of charge.
It was a double-folded French cuff. Now it’s a long single fold and falls to *exactly* the right length. And — cufflinks! I love cufflinks.
It’s not cheap to shop there but the fabrics are out of this world. Anyway — I bought a $40 Target skirt last month that fell apart in the wash after 2 wears. I figure I should get a heck of a lot more cost-per-wear mileage out of a top quality, cotton shirt.
(Just in case you missed this when it went viral a few weeks back: Jeff and Erin’s amazing Save the Date video. )
Kat Brown did a post on her blog recently which is very much worth a read. It relates to the use of the word ‘freak’ for tall women. Open it up and have a read – I’ll wait here… … … Read it? Good. Now there’s a few things I want to talk about and it’s particularly pertinent because on Saturday I’m going to do something freakish. Something totally out of the box. More than that – something I swore I would never do.
Having gone to quite some effort to find a very nice young man to marry, who is also taller than me (long story – remind me to tell it some time), I am wearing heels…. which means…
I am going to be the tallest person at that altar.
Since the concept of a tall bride brings to mind cartoons of large women with rolling pins, I reason that that puts me flat square into freak territory. And you know what? I LOVE that.
Interesting thing, the semantics of “freakish”. Technically, I suppose us tall ladies ARE freaks, in that those of us over 6 feet tall represent only about 2% of the female population. The word is frequently used to derogate others, but since shorties are usually intimidated by the tall, I think this usage is just another example of tall poppy syndrome (sorry. I do love a pun!).
OK, so I am a word nerd. Let’s break this thing down with some definitions of “freak” from the OED. The one we’re all most familiar with is this:
“colloq. (derogatory). A person regarded as strange or contemptible, esp. because of markedly unusual appearance or behaviour. ” For example: in Rolling Stone, 1994: “People around here view us as freaks. They see us walking together in a mall and they think we’re a bunch of hoodlums just looking for trouble.”
Now this one makes me imagine a menacing posse of 6′ 5″ women strutting around in platform heels, swiping short people with the bottom edges of their handbags. Which would be hilarious, and we should get together some day and try it. But I prefer this definition:
1965 C. BROWN Manchild in Promised Land: “I got a freak up there. You get in bed with this chick one time, and I guarantee that you’ll lose your mind.”
As in, freakishly attractive – a freak is one who stands out from the pack. Something which I have learned to love.
As a younger woman, I found my height impossible and frustrating. I felt clunky and ungainly, and if you’d told me that anyone who was not a fetishist might have found me attractive, I’d have thought you were crazy. But a few experiences changed that. For instance, on a trip to New York as an art student, I found my first pair of high heels. Not just any high heels, these babies were red ballerina-wrap shoes with a 4″ stiletto. I wore them out to a club with a miniskirt and I will never forget the look on the face of one guy as I cycled past. He was looking for a heckle but couldn’t find the words. As I zoomed away I heard him say….
…………..
…
………..
…LEGS!!!…..
A few more experiences like that, and I realised that I stood out in the best possible way. Being a freak is my best asset. It means people notice me.
I’m glad Dan noticed me, three years ago. I’m going to look my best on our wedding day, and wearing my height well is part of that. I’m going to enjoy being married to him. And we’re both going to enjoy being part of a couple that makes people stare.
